A Hong Kong man has become the second confirmed patient to be infected with the coronavirus a second time, according to researchers from the University of Hong Kong.
The finding suggests that some patients recovering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, may only have short-lived immunity to reinfection. The case is also likely to be significant for scientists who have been working on treatments that use antibodies from recovering coronavirus patients, and those who have shaken up to develop a safe and effective vaccine.
But the investigation is not necessarily cause for panic. Reinfection is common with other coronaviruses. Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University, tweeted shortly after the investigation was released that the study showed nothing unexpected.
The 33-year-old Hong Kong man developed symptoms in late March when he was first diagnosed with COVID-19, University of Hong Kong researchers wrote in a study accepted for publication by the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The patient was admitted to the hospital March 29, but his symptoms subsided and he was discharged April 14, according to the study.
The second infection occurred more than four months later, according to reports after the man returned to Hong Kong from Spain, via the United Kingdom. The patient tested positive August 15 and was admitted to hospital but remains asymptomatic, according to the study.
Earlier research into coronavirus antibodies found that their levels disappeared after a few months, which could suggest that potential immunity to the virus may not last long.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the top expert on infectious diseases in the United States, has previously said that immunity against other known coronaviruses, including those that cause the common cold, typically only lasts up to three six months.
“It could be completely different with this coronavirus,” he said in an interview with the medical journal JAMA. “It simply came to our notice then. But if it acts like ordinary coronaviruses, it probably will not have a very long immune life.
Iwasaki also noted that the man’s immune system, although not sufficient to prevent reinfection, appeared to protect him against the development of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The man’s immune system was also shown to produce antibodies that helped fight the re-infection.
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